Full-time faculty
At the conclusion of a search RISD retains external legal counsel to foreign national full-time faculty to apply for H1B or O1 visas that allow them to teach for RISD in the United States. Academic Affairs provides the attorney with all necessary documentation and pays all attendant fees. Faculty who willfully trespass the limitations of their immigration status are liable for any resulting additional legal costs.
After successfully passing their first evaluation RISD engages external legal counsel to pursue permanent residence (green card) for the foreign national faculty member. Faculty are responsible for subsequent green card renewals: no legal counsel is necessary.
Faculty may later elect to pursue US citizenship, through the naturalization process after five years of permanent resident status: no legal counsel is necessary. Connect to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services website to read more about that process.
Part-time faculty and term appointments
Academic departments should complete this form to provide Academic Administration and ISSA (International Student and Scholar Affairs), with basic information about the potential hire as soon as you are considering an international part-time faculty member or have identified an international term appointment via a search. They will contact the person to determine eligibility for work at RISD and communicate the determination to the hiring department and the potential faculty member.
RISD can sponsor J1 visas and TN visas (read more about these below) but effective April 2017, RISD DOES NOT support H1 and O1 employment visas for new adjunct faculty or term appointments. The J1 and TN visa processes are fairly simple if the faculty member is starting the process from their home country. There are some cases in which internationals who have recently completed studies are granted a year of Optional Practical Training and may teach as part of that training. In other rare cases, an O1 agent for an international person may either file (at their client's expense) a visa extension allowing the person to teach at RISD or the O1 agent may confirm that teaching at higher education institutions is already part of the extant visa for the person.
J1 visa/Exchange Visitor Program
RISD maintains a United States State Department approved Exchange Visitors’ Program that allows RISD to invite research scholars, short-term scholars and faculty to teach on J1 visas. The J1 visa process is straightforward and inexpensive and depending on time of year, volume of business at a Consulate and world events can take considerably longer. SIX MONTHS lead time is highly recommended.
ISSA will arrange for a language assessment and contact the person to get visa history to determine Exchange Visitor eligibility and biographical data necessary to initiate the visa process in Homeland Security’s SEVIS system (if eligible) and will send the new faculty member the documentation required to make an application for a J1 visa at the Consulate nearest their home and introductory information about the visa's insurance requirements. When they arrive on campus, the faculty member needs to provide ISSA with evidence of insurance and go through an online visa validation process. If your visiting faculty does not already have a Social Security Number, they must apply for one.
In most cases, J1 visitors who have reached the end of their visa may not re-renter the country on another J1 visa until two years have passed. The purpose of the J1 visa is to encourage exchanges between institutions and it can’t be used to employ someone on a regular year to year basis.
TN visa
NAFTA provides Canadian and Mexican citizens with a relatively simple TN visa that may be applied for at the border for
Canadians and in a Consulate for Mexican citizens. The visitor must carry their high school and university diplomas and a detailed formal letter of invitation from the Director of Academic Administration that speaks to specific visa issues and RISD’s standing as an institution of higher learning.